שבועות א

Based on the Torah "Let there be, please, a double portion of your spirit upon me" (Likutay Moharan I, Torah 66).

The concept of shevuah [oath]: When a person changes his word, his speech becomes chol [profane/mundane], as it is written, "He shall not profane (lo yachail) his word" (Numbers 30:3). And our Sages of blessed memory expounded: "He shall not make his word chulin [profane]." For when the speech is in the aspect of kodesh [holiness], there is no change in it. For kodesh is the aspect of entirely good, entirely one — the aspect of emes [truth]. For in the aspect of oneness and holiness there is no change, as is explained in the words of our Rebbe (in Torah 51): that emes is the aspect of entirely holy, entirely one. And therefore, when one changes his word, he makes his speech chol — for there [in the realm of chol] there is change and exchange. And therefore, even without a shevuah, it is a great prohibition to change one's word and to make it chol.

For the shevuah is the aspect of hiskashrus [binding/connection], as is known — that is, one binds the speech to its root, that is, to the root of the life-force from which the speech emerges. For the essence of the shevuah is through the [Divine] Name. And as our Sages of blessed memory said: "Everyone who swears — it is as if he swears by the life of the King." It turns out that he draws forth the speech from the root of the life-force, which is the aspect of ruach dil'aila [the supernal spirit]. That is, for example, one says that he swears by Hashem that he will not do such-and-such. It turns out that through the shevuah, he binds the speech to Hashem, who is the aspect of the root of the life-force, the aspect of ruach dil'aila — and from there he draws forth the speech through which he forbids upon himself some matter.

And similarly, even when one swears by the life of his own soul — this is also in precisely this same aspect. For the life-force of his soul — that is, the life-force from above, the aspect of ruach dil'aila — is the aspect of entirely holy, etc. And this is the aspect of "who has not lifted up his soul (nafsho) to falsehood" (Psalms 24:4). And we read [alternatively]: nafshi [My soul, i.e. Hashem's soul] — for nafshi and nafsho are all one, as mentioned above. And the principle: when one swears — which is the aspect of hiskashrus, that is, he binds his speech to the root of the life-force and from there forbids upon himself — therefore it is forbidden to change further. For there, at the root of the life-force, the aspect of ruach dil'aila, it is entirely holy, the aspect of emes, the aspect of One, in which there is no change. And therefore it is a severe prohibition to change and to make his word chol, as it is written, "He shall not profane his word" — for it is a great prohibition to make from kodesh, chol. And this is the aspect of what is written in the sefarim [holy books]: that shevuah is the aspect of Yesod [the sefirah of Foundation], which is the aspect of hiskashrus — for there [in Yesod] is the aspect of the two spirits [shtay haruchos], as is known. For through the shevuah, one binds the ruach of his mouth — which is ruach dilsata [the lower spirit] — to the root of the life-force, which is ruach dil'aila [the upper spirit], which is entirely holy, in which there is no change, as mentioned above. And therefore the annulment of a shevuah requires three [judges] and specifically through a pesach charatah [an opening of regret]. For pesach charatah is explained in the words of our Rebbe, there in the discourse "Let there be, please, a double portion of your spirit" (Torah 66), as the aspect of "You open Your hand" (Psalms 145:16) — the aspect of the opening-forth of the spirits, in the aspect of bringing from potential to actual [motzi mikoach el hapo'al]; see there. And through this the shevuah is annulled. For the primary prohibition was through the fact that the ruach dilsata was bound with the ruach dil'aila and became entirely holy, as mentioned above. And therefore, through pesach charatah, he opens and separates between the two spirits — in the aspect of bringing from potential to actual. And then it becomes in the aspect of after creation [achar habri'ah], which is the aspect of chol, in which there is change and exchange. And therefore the annulment requires specifically three — corresponding to the three aspects through which one brings from potential to actual, which are makom [space], tziyur [form], and zman [time]. And these are the aspect of the three final letters of the Name [i.e. ה-ו-ה of the Tetragrammaton], as is explained there — that they are in the aspect of pasach [opening]; see there. And through them one separates between the two spirits in the aspect of "after creation," and then his speech becomes in the aspect of chol, as mentioned above. And this is what our Sages of blessed memory said (Berachos 32a): "He shall not profane (lo yachail) his word" — he may not profane it, but others may profane it for him [achairim mochlin lo]. For they [the three judges] are able to make his speech chol, as mentioned above. And therefore, at the moment when the Holy One, blessed be He, said, "You shall not take [Hashem's Name in vain]" [the Third Commandment] — heaven and earth trembled, as our Sages of blessed memory said (Shevuos 39a). For they all depend on the aspect of "Indeed, My hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens" (Isaiah 48:13); see there in the aforementioned discourse. And this is the aspect of yedos shevuos [partial formulations/handles of oaths]. For everything depends on the aspect of the hands [yadayim], which are the aspect of the ruchos [spirits] — through which the shevuah is made, as mentioned above. This short, dense halacha, based on Likutay Moharan I, Torah 66 ("Vihi Na Pi Shnayim b'Ruchacha Ailay" — "Let there be a double portion of your spirit upon me"), explains the metaphysics of the shevuah (oath) through the kabbalistic concept of the two spirits (ruchos). Core Teaching: Speech is inherently holy (kodesh = emes = oneness = no change). When a person swears, he binds his lower spirit (ruach dilsata — the breath of his mouth) to the upper spirit (ruach dil'aila — the root of life-force, the aspect of Hashem). This binding through the Divine Name makes his word entirely holy, entirely one, the aspect of Yesod (Foundation) where the two spirits meet. Therefore changing his word is forbidden — it would mean making kodesh into chol (profane), where change and exchange exist. Annulment: A pesach charatah (opening of regret) reverses this process: it "opens" and separates the two spirits, bringing the speech from the realm of potential (kodesh, before-creation, unchanging) into the realm of actual (chol, after-creation, where change is possible). This requires three judges, corresponding to the three dimensions through which potentiality becomes actuality: space (makom), form (tziyur), and time (zman) — the three final letters of the Divine Name, which are the aspect of "opening" (pasach). Key Halachic Points Illuminated: "Lo yachail devaro" — he cannot profane his own word, but others (three judges) can. Heaven and earth trembled at "Lo sisa" because the shevuah engages the cosmic "hands" (yadayim = the spirits). And "yedos shevuos" (partial oath-formulations) are called "handles" (yedos/yadayim) because everything depends on the hands/spirits through which the oath is formed.